Central swimmer ready to make a splash

The upcoming swim season should be a promising one for the Central Catholic girls with returning district champion Mary Mazey back in the fold.

Cliff Hickman CantonRep.com sports writer

In the course of her swimming career at Central Catholic High School, Mary Mazey has set a standard for herself.

Look for Mazey to continue to meet and exceed that standard this season.

"Mary has looked very good so far in practice," Central Catholic head coach Mark Rogers said. "This is the best she has looked all four years she has been here."

Things look good in general for the Central girls swim team. The Crusaders head into the season with several key swimmers back and will have some talented underclassmen once again this year. But having the returning district champion in the 100 breaststroke in Mazey is particularly exciting.

The fact that Mazey has not had to relearn her mechanics this year has been a big help.

"One of her biggest strengths is her height," Rogers said. "She has really long limbs. Every year from freshman year to junior year, she would grow in the offseason. This year she is finally done growing. This is really the first opportunity she is going to have to work with the same body from the previous year. She isn't going to have to relearn anything this year."

Mazey has been solely focusing on improving her performance, and last year's positive results have served to motivate Mazey even more.

"She looks better all the way around," Rogers said. "She looks really strong. I think her performance in the 200 at sectionals last year really made her hungry. Breaking two minutes in the 200 is a really big deal, and her time at the sectional was 2:01. I think knowing she was so close made her a lot hungrier."

Getting under two minutes is indeed one of Mazey's personal goals for the upcoming season.

"I would like to make it back to state in the 100 breaststroke and 200 freestyle," Mazey said. "Breaking two minutes in the 200 freestyle is also something that I really want to do."

Mazey sought out competition this offseason in her quest to get better, competing for the Meyers Lake YMCA swim team where she impressed. Mazey recently won the 100 breaststroke, 200 free and 400 free at the Geauga Otters Invitational for Myers Lake.

"I think with a mentally strong swimmer like Mary competing in the offseason helps," Rogers said. "There are some swimmers that need a break at the end of the season because of all the pressure they face throughout the year in competition. Mary has always been mentally strong though, and she can handle that type of work load. It also provided her with the opportunity to work with different coaches. Those types of experiences only help a swimmer like her."

Mazey tried to push herself every step of the way.

"Competing for the YMCA helped me a lot," Mazey said. "I went to a lot of the early morning practices. Those are the harder practices. I also did some weight lifting. My experiences there have really helped me focus. Working with them also prevented me from slacking off this summer. It was a great experience."

Those experiences have all ready produced a tangible results.

"I've really worked on the 100 breaststroke and the 200 free," Mazey said. "So far I've been able to drop time in both events. I'm hoping that will continue."

Although Mazey's wants to have a successful year as an individual, her biggest goals are focused on the team.

"I really hope the team does well this season," Mazey said. "My biggest goal is for us to get more swimmers through the sectional and district and into the state meet. I would really like to see some of our relay teams reach the state meet. Those are the most important things to me. We are really close as a team. We are like a family."